80 Module 3 Sociocultural Forces TROMPENAARS’S SEVEN DIMENSIONS Dutch economist Fons Trompenaars’s seven-dimension framework for understanding culture is derived from the social sciences, and his initial data are from 47 countries, later greatly expanded, in collaboration with the British management philosopher Charles Hampden-Turner. The first five dimensions address the culture’s patterns for relationships among people, and the final two have to do with the way we understand time and nature. 28 Unlike Hofstede’s dimensions, which describe values we cannot directly observe, many of Trompenaars’s dimensions describe the behavior that results from an underlying cultural value. Let us see how this works. Universalism vs. Particularism (Rules vs. Relationships) The dimension of universalism vs. particularism addresses whether rules or relationships regulate behaviors. People in universalist cultures apply rules across the board, to all people, in all situations. People in particularist cultures consider the context before they apply the rule. Universalist cultures tend to be rule-based, while particularist cultures tend to be relationship-based. This dimension has wide applicability to our understanding of ethics in other cultures. The United States tends to be moderately rule-based, and U.S. adults tend to think everyone should follow the guidelines or rules, such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In other cultures, this judgment is situational—it all depends. It might depend on who is involved, on the specific circumstances of the event such as its location, or on other variables. You can see how cultural misunderstandings around ethics might arise between universalist and particularist cultures. Individualism vs. Communitarianism The dimension of individualism vs. communitarianism has to do with whether people plan their actions with reference to individual benefits or group benefits. Notice its similarity to Hofstede’s individual–collectivism dimension and Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s relationship value. Neutral vs. Affective (Unemotional vs. Emotional) How do members of a culture express emotions? People in neutral cultures tend to withhold emotional expression, while people in affective cultures are much more expressive. You can imagine that this dimension would come into play in communication patterns. Someone from an affective culture might be seeking responses that would not be normal for another person from a neutral culture to give. If you think back to the BP oil spill in the IB in Practice box, that’s exactly what happened. The United States needed emotion, and the British crisis managers approached communication with what would work in the United Kingdom, a stiff upper lip. Specific vs. Diffuse The specific-diffuse dimension distinguishes among cultures based on their differentiation between private life and public or work life. In specific cultures such as the United States, people make distinctions between their work relationships and other relationships, so that work relationships do not carry over beyond work. In diffuse cultures such as those of East Asia, the work relationships carry over to other areas of life and influence them. Low-context cultures, to use Hall’s terms, such as Germany, Canada, Australia, and the United States, tend to be specific, while high-context cultures, such as Japan and Mexico, tend to be diffuse. Table 3.2 lists more characteristics of this dimension. Achievement vs. Ascription Ascription cultures consider who a person is in terms of his or her family lineage, age, or other attributes. You are valued for who you are. Achievement cultures are meritocracies that reward what you do. In the United States, for example, achievement is a primary determinant of social status. This universalist Condition in which concepts apply to all particularist Condition in which context determines what concepts apply communitarianism Belief that the group is the beneficiary of actions neutral vs. affective The withholding of emotion contrasted with its expression specific vs. diffuse Life divided into public and private spheres contrasted with life undifferentiated achievement vs. ascription What a person does contrasted with who a person is
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